


Ask for Nothing

by StarmanSymphony



Series: View-Monster Duology [2]
Category: MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance
Genre: Banter, Character Tags To Be Added - Freeform, Gen, House Hunting, I can't believe that's an actual tag, Magicant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Reunions, Sequel, Temporary Amnesia, not entirely sure tbh, sequel fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:19:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarmanSymphony/pseuds/StarmanSymphony
Summary: After having your home timeline destroyed, how do you adjust to your new one? How do you get along with the new faces and move past the old? With all the things you have to get used to all of a sudden, how are you supposed to?(Sequel to Sundial, set in a post-Severance ending timeline. Spoilers for both the previous fic and CogDis.)
Series: View-Monster Duology [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709152
Kudos: 1





	1. Amnesia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I ask a question_   
>  _I let it go_   
>  _Just like a balloon_   
>  _I'll never need to know_
> 
> * * *
> 
> He woke up in a forgotten home.

He slowly blinked open his eyes. Wherever this place was, he didn’t recognise it. He looked around. The floor was made of wooden tiles, and there was an open window behind him with a potted plant sitting to the right of it, next to the door. He was lying on a soft couch, worn from years of use. On the floor beside him were a variety of aliens he didn’t recognise – a light pink UFO, a Foppy with darker pink markings next to its eyes and on the tips of its feet, a red Mook lying in a trash can and a muddy green horned… thing. As not to disturb them, he crawled over the back of the couch. He still lost balance and landed with a **thud,** though.

Quietly moaning in pain, he got back to his tentacles. His upper eyes had locked onto a strange black mechanism. It had a handle of sorts on the top, which rested upon a base with a dial on it. The handle, oddly, was connected to the base by a curly black wire. He slithered up to it and curled his tentacle around the handle. The handle came off the base, making him flinch. Just a moment later, he heard a faint whine of a high-pitched noise. He put the handle to the side of his head. The continuous beep from the handle rattled his ear sockets. With a frown of distaste, he decided to put the handle back on its base.

He slithered past the perfectly square table with a lone chair beside it to the staircase just behind it. He slithered up the short flight of stairs until he reached the top. He was now in a hallway – not all that long – with two doors. One door was to the left of him, and the other was right at the end of the hallway. His curiosity chose the left door first.

He opened the door and poked his head into the room on the other side. The room was almost completely pink. The walls were pink, the small table and chairs next to the left wall were pink, the dresser was pink – the only things that weren’t were the floor and the desk in the corner: the floor had the same wooden tiles as the room he awoke in, and the desk was predominantly brown. There was still a bit of pink on the side drawers, though. Most of his attention was caught by the bed. The pink blanket and white sheets were messy, and the top pillow was lopsided. The gift box sitting at the end of the bed had been opened. He wondered what was in there for a brief moment before closing the door and heading to the other room connected to the hallway.

He poked his head into the room, much like he did with the pink one. This room had light blue walls, with the blanket on the bed being a brighter shade. Much like the pink room, this room had a small table as well, with a single chair. This table and chair were light blue, similar to the walls. The dresser and the desk in this room sat next to one another, adjacent to the open window on the left wall. The room had a certain energy to it that called him inside. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

He cautiously scanned the room, just in case something was hiding. After a few moments, he decided that there was nothing hiding in the room, and hesitantly slithered inside. He slowly shut the door behind him, then went to the center of the room. A soft light grew, then faded, then grew, then faded. It all came flooding back.

He remembered Magicant crumbling away. There was a black door, and he rushed through, desperate to get away.

He remembered the PSI that enveloped him and his friend as the RPG-maker’s leakage hissed and the floor shaking. He wondered during that moment if he could have ever succeeded in destroying the machine, at least.

He remembered the frozen stars when he stargazed on Mercury with Malik. He remembered the trees of Earth and the town nearby. He remembered the monster and the scared citizens of Mars. He remembered the effects of time on the Airpuffs of Jupiter. He remembered the valley, the blue grass, the moons, the comforts of his cave back on the B Ring of Saturn.

Ralivil remembered his name.

He whipped his head over his shoulder as his eyestalks peered at his back. The Prophet’s Mark was gone. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. He smacked himself. It stung. He looked back to his back. The mark still wasn’t there. Then, a smile crept onto his face. It was gone. It was really, truly gone.

Ralivil dashed out of the room, down the hallway and down the stairs. He bumped against the wall as he dashed out of the stairwell and skidded to a halt in front of the group of Magicant citizens lying on the floor. He leaned over and grabbed the UFO, and began to knock on its roof.

“Buzzy Bol! Buzzy Bol! Buzzy Bol!” Ralivil jabbered.

Buzzy Bol’s UFO’s eyes began to open as he mumbled, “Huh? What?”

Ralivil couldn’t help but grin from eyestalk to eyestalk. “It’s gone! The Prophet’s Mark, it’s gone!”

“The what…?”

Ralivil’s smile vanished as he stared at Buzzy Bol with wide eyes. A second passed before he dashed up the stairs again, tucking the UFO underneath his tentacle. He barged into the blue room and held Buzzy Bol out once he stopped in the center of the room. A few silent moments passed before a gasp escaped from Buzzy Bol.

“Do you remember?” Ralivil questioned.

“I… I do! How did we forget, though?”

“I don’t know… but Buzzy Bol, look! It’s gone!”

Ralivil let go of Buzzy Bol to point at his back. Buzzy Bol hovered behind him, then gasped again.

“The Prophet’s Mark…!”

“It’s GONE!” Ralivil cheered. He held out his hands, then told Buzzy Bol, “I bet my PSI’s gone too!” He looked down at his hands as he said, “Watch this.”

Nothing happened for a whole 15 seconds.

“Nothing happened, and I was focusing!” Ralivil exclaimed, looking back up at Buzzy Bol. “It’s gone, it’s gone, it’s gone!”

From inside his UFO, a lopsided grin appeared on Buzzy Bol’s face. “This really means a lot to you, huh?”

“Yeah! My life was normal when I didn’t have PSI! I was happy then! Maybe…” Ralivil looked back down at his hands as he murmured, “Maybe this happiness will last.”

Silence sat idly in the air and drifted by like a cloud in the sky before Buzzy Bol asked, “Should we bring the others up here too?”

Ralivil looked up at Buzzy Bol again. “The others?” he asked. “I thought they were part of Magicant, not from outside like us.”

“You never know.”

“Mm, I guess not. Let’s do it, then.”


	2. Reconcile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I ask a question_   
>  _But maybe I'm lying_   
>  _I don't know nothing_   
>  _But I know I'm trying_
> 
> * * *
> 
> Ralivil reunites with a certain someone.

“So, um… where exactly are we?” The muddy green horned thing from Magicant, who had just named himself Wil, asked Ralivil and Buzzy Bol.

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol came to a halt at the foot of the stairwell. They exchanged glances.

Buzzy Bol turned to face the aliens from Magicant and told them, “…We haven’t got to that part yet.”

Foppiue, the Foppy with markings next to their eyes and on the tips of their feet, spoke up, asking, “So we should go and found out now, right? Since we’ve all been to that room you wanted to take us to so badly?”

“Well… I wasn’t in much of a hurry to do it, but that’s the idea, yeah.”

Mav, the dark red trashcan Mook, said, “I nominate Greenie.”

Wil looked down at Mav as he gave a hum of query, while Ralivil looked over his shoulder at the other Mook with a raised eyebrow. Mav pointed to Ralivil, who then sputtered in response.

“ME?! Why me?” he questioned. Mav nonchalantly shrugged.

“I do agree; I think Ralivil would be excellent at exploring,” Wil said.

While Foppiue didn’t say anything, they did give a nod of agreement. Ralivil looked over to Buzzy Bol with pleading eyes.

Buzzy Bol gave Ralivil a sympathetic glance, then whispered to him, “We can both do it.”

Ralivil nodded, then told the Magicant aliens, “Um, yeah! I’ll be going…” he vaguely gestured to the front door, “…outside! To figure out where we are!” He hurriedly slithered over to the door, with Buzzy Bol not too far behind.

Ralivil slid out of the door. Once Buzzy Bol had followed him out, he slammed it shut. He heaved out a heavy sigh.

Buzzy Bol lowered himself down to Ralivil’s level, then looked around. After a moment, he looked over to Ralivil and, pointing his UFO’s metallic arm straight ahead, told him, “I’ll head down that way. You don’t mind going up the hill, do you?”

Ralivil surveyed the area straight ahead, then the hill, then replied, “No. In fact, I’d prefer it.”

Buzzy Bol’s face lit up a bit. “Awesome. I’ll try not to take too long.” With that, he flew away down the path. Ralivil watched him leave, then looked at the path around the hill.

_‘Better get going,’_ he thought to himself.

Ralivil began to slither over the coarse orange dirt as he headed to the left of the house. The air was dead quiet, much like everything else surrounding him. He paused to look at the ashy ruins of what appeared to have been a house similar to the one he and the others woke up in. After a moment of wondering what could have happened, he continued walking down the path, taking a left from where he was.

He began to climb up the path that wound up the hill, and had just passed a small crater, when he heard distant voices from the top. He instinctively ran back to the beginning of the hill, then peered up to the top. Standing with a spiked Ghost of Starman, what Ralivil assumed to be a Mr. Saturn wearing a dark green hat and some other sort of alien that looked almost like a human was the blue Mook he had visited when he went to the Points of Power. The last time he had properly spoken to him ended in tears, and Ralivil didn’t know if the Mook would want to see him again.

From the top of the hill, the blue Mook turned in Ralivil’s direction. The Mook’s eyestalks stood up, and he then proceeded to make his way down the hill. Ralivil started sweating bullets. He glanced around, trying to find a good place to hide, but everything around him was so dead that there was nowhere he could go without sticking out like a sore, green thumb.

Before he knew it, the blue Mook had already made his way over to him. Ralivil took brief notice of the golden freckles that were now on the Mook’s face, but thought nothing of it. The blue Mook waved and quietly said, “Hi!”

Ralivil froze on the spot. He awkwardly glanced between the blue Mook and the leafless trees before a weird squeaky noise involuntarily came out of his mouth.

The blue Mook stared at him for a moment before asking, “Um… I– Do you, uh…” He frowned as he glanced away at the ground and mumbled to himself, “This is stupid…”

He gulped, then looked back at Ralivil and asked, “Do you, um, remember me? From when I was a kid?”

Ralivil slowly nodded. The blue Mook let out a small gasp as the freckles on his face lit up. The glow faded as he frowned, then asked, “But you didn’t in Magicant…?”

Ralivil’s mind blanked. “…Like, the grey cliff place?”

The blue Mook nodded.

“Oh! Well, uh that house over there,” Ralivil waved in the general direction of the house he and the others had woken up in, “has this room that, uh, restored my memories? Because apparently I didn’t have those in Magicant?”

“Oh. Weird,” the blue Mook replied.

“Yeah.”

There was moment of silence before the blue Mook said, “Oh, right! Um, my name’s Alinivar. I don’t think I told you that… did I?”

“No, you didn’t,” Ralivil assured.

“Okay. Um, I wanted to say, uh, sorry. For uh, being mean to you when I was a teenager. I just… had a lot going on.”

After a very brief moment of silence, Ralivil replied, “Oh, yeah, it’s fine! You’re fine! Don’t worry! You shouldn’t blame yourself for the situation you were put in.”

Alinivar blinked hard with a small smile.

“So… how have you been since I last saw you? Did you get up to anything exciting? Ralivil asked.

Alinivar glanced up at the sky in thought for a moment, then sat down. Ralivil followed suit.

“Well, uh… I… moved out… and found a cave on the outskirts of Satralia. I lived there for a bit, nothing exciting… then I died,” Alinivar began.

“You WHAT?!”

“I got better. There was, uh, this apple called the Apple of Enlightenment… It revived me and gave me PSI, but it also made me find all its pieces. That, uh… wasn’t… so fun. But I made some friends!” His freckles lit up at the mention of his new friends.

The two Mooks sat together for a few uncomfortably long minutes.

“Uhhh… I was thinking about it, uh… it’s really weird that you kinda just… appeared at my exact location every few years with no explanation. How did you do it?” Alinviar asked.

“Oh! Uh…” How _did_ Ralivil do it? He knew it had something to do with the Points of Power, and probably the Prophet’s Mark as well, but what was the connection?

“…I don’t really know. I guess the– Okay, I had to visit these places called Points of Power, right? I think those might have taken my soul from my original timeline… to yours…” Ralivil shrugged as he ended with, “I dunno.”

Alinivar stared blankly at Ralivil for a second before asking, “You were from another timeline?”

“…Yeah.”

“…Huh.”

In the distance, a scream sounded. It travelled around from the other side of the grove of dead trees and right up to Ralivil. Buzzy Bol, the one who had been screaming his head off, bonked into Ralivil. The UFO quickly apologised, then explained, “There’s all sorts of crazy guys over there! They tried to kill me! Going down there is a no-go!”

“Oh,” Ralivil replied. “Well we’d better tell the others.”

Buzzy Bol dipped his UFO slightly as a nod of agreement, while Alinivar’s eyes went wide at the mention of the others, but said nothing.

As Ralivil got to his feet, he told Alinivar, “Well, I’d better get going. It was nice talking to you again, though!”

Alinivar nodded with a smile, a glow coming from his golden freckles once again.

As Ralivil headed back to the house with Buzzy Bol, the latter quietly questioned, “Wait, you _know_ them?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headcanon that after being revived by the Apple of Enlightenment Alinivar gets these golden freckles and they glow when he's happy and it's very cute.


	3. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _It's not the nothingness at the end_   
>  _So much as the message nothingness would send_   
>  _I just like the feeling imagining_   
>  _That every balloon comes back without a string_
> 
> * * *
> 
> The Applechasers go back to 198X, and Niiue visits the Celine.

Niiue put the small bag he had constructed into the Phase Distorter, then turned back to everyone gathered on the top of the hill.

After Alinivar told Ralivil about the Applechasers’ depature for the past, Ralivil made it a point to say goodbye to the other group of aliens. He had convinced everyone else to do so as well, even if they only really knew Niiue.

“Well, that’s everything,” Niiue said, resting his hands on his hips. He looked over at the other Applechasers and asked, “You guys ready?”

Alinivar gave a small nod, Larice gave a beep of confirmation, and Colonel Saturn let out an enthusiastic “boing!” Googi, the infant Geeg that had come under their care, swooped over to Niiue and made a variety of chirps and purrs as he clung to the older Geeg’s arm.

Niiue looked back at the Magicant gang and told them, “It’ll probably be a little while until one of us comes back to bring you guys to the past. We’ll have to sort out the temporary residence until then. Okay?”

Wil, Foppiue and Ralivil gave a nod, Buzzy Bol extended his UFO’s metal arm to give a thumbs up, and Mav gave a grunt of agreement.

Niiue gave a thumbs up back as he smiled. “Alright then!” He turned back to the Applechasers and asked, “Shall we get going?”

The Applechasers all nodded, then followed Niiue inside the Phase Distorter. The small, round, black door of the machine slid shut after Colonel Saturn wriggled his way inside. The Phase Distorter revved its engine as black waves flew from it, and before anyone knew, it disappeared in a flash of white light.

The Magicant gang stood in awe for a few moments as the light faded. Once it had faded completely, Ralivil pondered aloud, “You know, I wonder why the Phase Distorter looks like a Mr. Saturn.”

* * *

Things were going horrendously slow on the ship. Nobody knew where to go next. Boson suggested Neptune, but Malik shot it down before the insectoid could even finish saying the planet’s name. Dr. Saturn, and to a lesser extent Shopkeep Saturn, were the only ones interested in going back home to Saturn. Elmadan was adamant about staying away from it for reasons he didn’t want to disclose. And since the crew had already been to Jupiter and Mars, they were at a loss for ideas. So now they were just sitting around, bored out of their minds.

Then there was a flash of white light and waves of black as the sound of an engine dying down filled the ship. Once the waves had stopped, the engine fallen silent and the light faded, everyone looked wide-eyed at the Mr. Saturn-shaped machine that had just sat itself down to the right of the ship’s control panel. A small, black door on the machine slid open, and a strange alien wearing what the crew could only assume to be human clothes stepped out.

The crew immediately started screaming.

The alien flinched as the ears on the top of its head folded back. As more aliens climbed out of the machine, the human-clothed one muttered, “I knew they would be confused, but this isn’t the response I was expecting…”

“I would *click* understand if it were just the Mr. Saturns, but, the others…?” the glowing, spiked Starman questioned.

A smaller alien, the same species as the clothed one, but only wearing a red cap with a blue rim, clung to the larger one’s arm.

The clothed alien called over the screaming, “Hey, hey, hey! It’s alright! We’re not going to hurt you!”

The crew cut off their screaming, but still eyed the new group of aliens with caution.

The clothed alien sighed as a smile crept onto its face, “Thank you.” It looked back up at the crew and told them, “My name’s Niiue, and this little guy right here,” he patted the smaller alien clinging to his arm on the head briefly, “is Googi.”

Malik squinted and muttered to himself, “Niiue…? Where have I heard that one before…?”

Dr. Saturn leaned forward slightly as he asked, “Who are others…?”

Niiue turned and pointed to each of the other aliens as he said, “This is Alinivar, this is Larice, and this is Colonel Saturn.”

“Ain’t there supposed to be one more of you…?” Boson questioned. “I dunno why I get that feelin’, but I feel like there’s supposed to be one more.”

Niiue raised a finger with his mouth agape. “…That’s… We’re not at that bridge yet.”

Elmadan leaned against the wall, arms crossed, as he asked, “So what are you guys even doing here? And why do I feel like I’ve heard your names before, even though I don’t recognise any of you?”

“Okay, uh, long story short, you actually _do_ know us, I mean, not counting Googi. We went forward in time in the Phase Distorter-“ Niiue pointed at the Mr. Saturn-shaped machine behind them, “-to help stop a threat to the entire galaxy. That ended with us getting Googi, although the way we got him must have altered the timeline so you guys forgot about us.”

“There is a lot more to it, but those are the basics. *beep* Maybe someday we will tell you the rest,” Larice added.

“Alright. That still doesn’t give us a reason to trust you, though,” Malik replied.

Colonel Saturn trotted over to Dr. Saturn and Shopkeep Saturn and told them, “I mayor of Satralia, zoom! You remember?”

The other two Mr. Saturns hummed in thought before Shopkeep Saturn replied, “A little. Not much, boing.”

“But we still trust you, zoom,” Dr. Saturn added.

Colonel Saturn let out a pleased “boing!”

As Googi let go of Niiue’s arm and drifted closer to the ceiling, Niiue asked the ship crew, “So, what have you guys been up to?”

Elmadan and Boson hm’d and ha’d over what to say before Elmadan simply replied, “We went to Jupiter. Then Mars.”

“We helped the folks of Anolin rebuild, met some weird blue Starman Deluxe and his pack of weirdos—”

“And one normal guy,” Elmadan added.

“And one normal dude, right, then the Starman Deluxe decided he wanted to be a pirate? So he and his gang took off and we went after ‘em to make sure they didn’t mess up nobody.”

Larice glanced over at Boson and began, “But…”

“There ain’t nobody on Mars? We didn’t know that at the time!” Boson told him. “So anyways. I dunno what happened to the Stardudes, but it musta been somethin’, ‘cause after they checked outta Mars, they just… haven’t moved.”

“It’s really weird. They’re just sitting there, in the middle of space, for no reason,” Elmadan added. “Like, what are they even doing?”

“To be fair, we aren’t doing a whole lot of anything either,” Malik replied.

As Elmadan retorted to Malik’s comment, Niiue put a hand to his chin and tapped his foot in thought. After half a minute, Niiue announced, “I’ll be back.” He then vanished into thin air with a flash of blue light.

The ship crew blinked and looked around for Niiue before Larice told them, “He simply teleported somewhere else. Perhaps that other ship you were telling him about. *beep*”

* * *

In a flash of blue light, Niiue appeared on the lowest outer path of the Celine. The ship didn’t look any different from what Niiue remembered of it, although, notably, there was a distinct lack of Tornado Bots outside.

_‘I guess there’s no need for them now that everything’s peaceful,’_ Niiue thought to himself.

Not seeing any Starmen around in his immediate vicinity, he took to the air and began his search. He did a couple of laps around the Celine, scanning the outer paths of the ship. He still didn’t see any Starmen, but a quick glance at the rooftop revealed several Starmen – most Blue or Ghost units – gathered and talking amongst themselves. Niiue glided above the roof and landed, then walked over to the small group with a friendly wave.

“Hey there! How’s it going?” Niiue greeted as he approached the Starmen.

The Starmen turned to look at Niiue. The scowls on their faces said all that needed to be about how they felt about Niiue’s arrival. A Ghost of Starman wearing a fluffy light blue scarf turned to the group and began to say something to them, but a thinner than normal Blue Starman held up his hand to silence him.

“Let me handle this *click*,” the thin Blue Starman told the scarf-wearing Ghost of Starman.

“But I’m a higher rank than you! What gives you the *whirr* right—”

The thin Blue Starman’s eye narrowed. “You know exactly why, Megalomycter. You were there, just like the rest of us.”

The scarf-wearing Ghost of Starman, Megalomycter, remained silent. After a quiet “thank you” from him, the thin Blue Starman turned to Niiue and took a few steps forward from the group.

As he put his hands on his hips, the thin Blue Starman asked Niiue, “Who are you, *beep* and what exactly brings you here?”

“My name’s Niiue, and I’m just here to see what’s up. I got a tip that thing’s were going slow on this ship, and I just wanted to see if everything was alright.” Niiue cocked his head as he asked, “What’s _your_ name?”

“Mirapina.” The thin Blue Starman held out a hand, which Niiue held and shook. Mirapina but his hand back on his hip as he told Niiue, “And that’s very kind of you, but we’re fine. *whirr*”

Niiue hummed in thought for a moment, before asking, “Are you sure? There’s not a lot of activity out here at all – unusual for a ship of this size.”

From the group, a Blue Starman with an uppercase Sigma printed onto his left arm pushed his way to the front, causing Mirapina to look over his shoulder at the other Blue Starman. The other Blue Starman told Mirapina, “Come on, Mirapina. It’s been days *click* now and we haven’t even _heard_ the captain.”

Mirapina let out a soft whirr before looking back at Niiue and explaining to him, “You see, four standard solar days ago we went to Mars. We found out… *whirr* …certain things our pasts that we weren’t expecting to. We’re all still a bit shaken up by it, but the captain seems to be taking it worse. Only *beep* one standard solar day after the trip, he went to his personal quarters to be by himself, but he hasn’t come out since. *click* We’re worried, but don’t want to disturb the captain. Out of respect, of course.”

Niiue hummed in thought, then proposed, “Perhaps I could help out?”

The group of Starmen let out a chorus of confusion.

“I dunno what exactly you found out down there, but this does sound like an emotional issue. I think I know a way to help him out a bit, but I’d need to be in your captain’s quarters with him for it to work,” Niiue explained.

Mirapina narrowed his eye. “Why should be *beep* trust you?”

“I know a lot more about emotions that you might think.”

Mirapina was silent, squinting at Niiue for a few long moments before he turned to the group of Starmen and asked, “Alright, *click* who wants to lead him down to Captain Deepsea’s quarters. *beep* I don’t think he’d be all that happy to see me, but one of you should be fine.”

Immediately, a Ghost of Starman’s arm shot up as its owner shouted, “Me! Me!”

Mirapina shrugged. “Go on ahead, Diaphus.”

The Ghost of Starman Diaphus shoved their way past the other Starmen, then shook Niiue’s hand. “Hi! *click* My name’s Diaphus, pleasure to meet you!” Their eye had a bright red crosshair that stared right at him.

Niiue let out a light nervous chuckle before replying, “Nice to meet you too!”

Diaphus let go of Niiue’s hand, then teleported a short distance away from him. He turned to face him and called out, “This way!”

Niiue trotted up to Diaphus as they led him into a tall room at the bow of the ship. The room was rather small compared to how it looked on the outside. It had small, metal boxes stacked against one wall and scattered nearby the opposite one. A long ladder stood at the end of the room.

“Captain Deeeeepseeeeea!” Diaphus called out. After a silent moment, they frowned. “Hm. *click*”

Niiue followed Diaphus as they climbed up the ladder to the upper level. Diaphus looked around, muttering to themself. After a quiet lightbulb moment from the Ghost of Starman, they walked over to the three grey cylinders on the left side of the room and pushed the leftmost one down into the floor. There was a rumbling as the floor shook, and a staircase opened up just in front of the tube that travelled across the back wall. Diaphus motioned for Niiue to follow him down the stairs, then began to travel down them themself.

At first, the descent down the staircase was a descent into darkness. After a few steps down, dim LED lights embedded in the ceiling flickered on as they sensed the Starman and the Geeg.

Diaphus paused as they glanced up at the lights. “The captain usually has them turned up brighter. *beep*” they noted to themself.

They continued to go down the staircase, Niiue following close behind. Eventually, they reached the bottom, and entered a surprisingly spacey room. A hyberpod sat against the back wall, and a large computer, which was currently turned off, was embedded into the right wall. Its keyboard sat on a table right in front of it.

Niiue glanced around the room before asking Diaphus, “Where’s your captain?”

Diaphus whirred before replying, “In his hyberpod, I guess.”

Niiue edged past Diaphus and walked up to the hyberpod. He knocked on it thrice, then waited. One of the lids opened slightly, and the narrowed eye of what was presumably the captain stared at Niiue. The lid opened more, and the owner of the eye, a blue Starman Deluxe wearing a grey cape, sat up. He looked over at Diaphus, who frantically waved as their eye lit up.

Niiue looked over at Diaphus and asked, “Is this the captain?”

“It sure is! *beep*” Diaphus chirped in reply. Their attention returned to the captain and said, “Hi Captain Deepsea!”

Captain Deepsea pointed at Niiue and asked Diaphus, “Who is this?”

“He said his name’s Niiue, Captain!”

Deepsea was silent for a moment, then asked, “What’s he doing here? *beep*”

“Something about *click* helping you?”

Deepsea frowned, glanced at Niiue, then back at Diaphus. “You just… *whirr* let him on board? And into my personal quarters?”

“He hasn’t showed any ill intent, Captain!”

Deepsea narrowed his eye again, then with a wave of his hand, told Diaphus, “You are dismissed with a warning. *click* Be more careful next time, and tell me when you’re coming down. Especially with a *beep* guest.”

Diaphus saluted. “Yes, Captain!” They then teleported out of the room.

With Diaphus gone, Captain Deepsea turned his attention to Niiue. “How did you know?” was all he asked.

Niiue’s eyebrows arched at the question. “About you feeling down? Well, I only found that out when I talked to some of your crew just earlier. I only figured something was up when a couple of my friends told me that you visited Mars and once you left, your ship hadn’t moved in a few days.”

“…Your friends? *beep* Who?”

“One’s an insectoid in a magenta UFO called Boson, and the other’s a purple Mook called Elmadan,” Niiue told him. “They said they met you on Jupiter?”

Deepsea’s eye widened. He went back to a frown as he murmured, “…That would make sense, I suppose.”

Niiue sat down cross-legged on the cool metal floor and smacked his knees. “So. I’m here to help, and help is what I’m gonna try to do.”

“And you hope to *beep* accomplish that by sitting on the floor…?” Deepsea questioned.

“And concentrating,” Niiue added.

Captain Deepsea let out a confused beep, which prompted Niiue to tell him, “In order for this to work, I need you to go to sleep.”

“Sleep…?” Captain Deepsea questioned. “How is that *whirr* going to help me?”

“Just trust me on this,” Niiue assured him.

Deepsea squinted at Niiue, then replied, “Whatever you say…” He laid back down in the hyberpod, then asked, “What about the hyberpod lid? *click* Should that stay open?”

“You can close it if you’d like,” Niiue replied. “I just need to be in close proximity to you for this to work. The hyberpod doesn’t interfere.”

With his answer, Deepsea closed the hyberpod lid. Niiue placed his hands together and closed his eyes. He focused his mind on Captain Deepsea, and waited until he had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Deepsea found himself back in his quarters, but outside of the hyberpod already, somehow. Looking around only made him realise how off everything was: the door to the staircase that led to the rest of the ship was on the entirely wrong wall, and for some reason there was a frog sitting nearby his hyberpod. How did it even get there?

As he frowned at the frog, who only stared curiously at him, he felt the air ripple beside him. He turned to find out what the cause was, then flinched when he saw the strange alien that Diaphus had brought into his quarters. What did they say his name was? Niiue, or something? Niiue waved with a polite smile.

“H-How did you…?” Deepsea stammered.

“Meditation,” Niiue replied.

Satisfied with the answer he was given, Deepsea turned and headed toward the exit. Niiue followed. Deepsea frowned, stopped in place just outside the exit, then turned to Niiue.

“Why are you following me? *beep*” he asked.

“Where you’re headed, you’re gonna need my help. And not just with directions,” Niiue replied.

Deepsea narrowed his eye at Niiue. What did he mean, ‘not just with directions’? With an agitated whirr, he turned back to the exit and walked up a suspiciously short flight of stairs outside.

He realised what Niiue meant with the _directions_ part of his statement.

Wherever he was, it certainly wasn’t the Celine. No. It couldn’t be. Why would the sky be blue at the top of the sky and pink at the bottom if it was? He had to climb up the staircase into his office and out the door to get to the roof of the Celine, but here he was, on a _lower path._

Behind him, Niiue said, “Welcome to Magicant.”

Deepsea noted a few of his Starmen simply standing in place along the path. What were they doing there? Also, how did a _Foppy_ get onto this ship? Deepsea raised a hand at the Foppy, who looked not quite right and very angry, and fired a PK Beam at it. The Foppy looked to be damaged by it, but certainly not to the point of defeat. In fact, Deepsea could have sworn that the beam made it _more_ eager to fight.

The Foppy charged up to Deepsea. The captain raised his foot as it approached, then slammed it down on the tiny alien when it was underneath. The Foppy growled at him despite its lack of mouth. Deepsea pressed his foot down on it until it bounced away from him like a ball, then managed to land on its feet and skid to a halt behind him. Deepsea simply fired another PK Beam at it, which sent it flying off this edge of the path and down into the endless pink abyss below.

Niiue, who had been watching wide-eyed for the entire short-lived battle, commented, “Well… that happened.” He frowned as he continued, “But I don’t get it. Elmadan and Boson told me you and your crew had helped the Foppies and Fobbies of Anolin rebuild; why would they be here in your Magicant as enemies…?”

Putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest a little, Deepsea replied, “Well, I _did_ lead an attack on Jupiter before that. I only helped them out because I had nothing better to do.”

Niiue nodded slowly, then asked, “And why did you attack Jupiter in the first place?”

Deepsea faltered. “I… *whirr* …don’t remember.”

“Is that so?” There was something in Niiue’s voice that sounded out of place for the question he asked, like he… knew something. He looked at the path as he said, “Well, let’s just go on ahead. I’ll take care of any other enemies that’ll get in our way.”

With that, Deepsea took a few steps forward, and Niiue followed. Deepsea stopped in front of the first two of his Starmen on the path, Notolepis and Paralepis. While Starmen had no biological family (anymore, at least), the two Blue Starmen were considered twins. They both had a lighter half that mirrored each other’s – Notolepis’ was on the left side of his body, and Paralepis’ was on the right side of her body.

“Hey Captain! *beep*” Notolepis chirped. “I’ve been coming up with new ways to prank you, so watch out!”

“Yeah! We’ll get away with it, too! *click* You won’t even see us coming!” Paralepis added.

Niiue looked up at Captain Deepsea. “Are they usually like this?”

Deepsea frowned as he replied, “They’re *click* usually not as forward.”

Deepsea continued walking along the path, next stopping in front of Incharcha, the Celine’s cleaner, the only regular-class Starman and transfer from… a bigger, more important ship. He couldn’t remember the specifics.

“Oh! Hello Captain!” Incarcha greeted. “You’re looking dashing as usual!”

With a robotic chuckle, Deepsea put his hands on his hips. “Why thank you, Incarcha.” Beside him, Niiue rolled his eyes. “I would love to chat, but I do have places to *beep* be.”

Incarcha didn’t say anything in reply. Deepsea stared at him for a couple of seconds, then turned to Niiue and simply asked quietly, “Niiue?”

“Most Magicant inhabitants don’t say a lot. I don’t even know why that is. It’s just one of the many pieces that makes up the mystery of Magicant, I suppose,” Niiue explained.

As Deepsea began walking again, he asked, “Did you say ‘most’? *click* Do you mean to say that this Magicant isn’t the only one?”

“Far from it!” Niiue replied. “Everyone has a Magicant; most people don’t see them.”

Deepsea whirred as he took in the information, then stopped in front of another Blue Starman aboard the Celine, Hitonia.

“Heya Captain. Makin’ the rounds again? *whirr* Cool, cool.”

After their brief stop to see what Hitonia had to say, Deepsea and Niiue turned the corner on the path and went through the doorframe that awaited them. The room that greeted them resembled the interior of the Celine, but the floors resembled those from the halls underneath Mars. At the opposite end of the room was an elevated half-circle area with a single ladder to climb to the top. The contents of the area were too high up for both Deepsea or Niiue to see properly, but judging from the wave of melancholy and unease that washed the former’s face, it was safe to say Deepsea already had a good idea.

Deepsea walked forward a few steps into the room, but Niiue didn’t follow this time. His pace was slower compared to when he was on the path outside. He stopped across another Blue Starman Niiue recognised from earlier as Mirapina, who was leaning against the right wall with his arms crossed. Deepsea and Mirapina held eye contact for a few tense moments.

“You know why this is here, *whirr*” Mirapina told him.

Deepsea looked away, down at the floor in front of him. “I do.”

“Ever since you learned what you left behind, you can’t stop thinking about it. You want to go back to it. *click*” Mirapina’s frown deepened. “You can’t get back something that’s already dead and gone, Deepsea.”

Deepsea gave no reply. He only stood there, staring at the floor for a few more moments, before asking Niiue, “Aren’t you *click* coming?”

Admittedly, Niiue flinched. “Right behind you!” he replied as he jogged up to Deepsea.

Deepsea climbed up the ladder and onto the elevated portion of the room. He stood before a red cape just a bit too short for a Starman hanging on the wall. The ends were tattered and burned.

Niiue up at Deepsea, his ears folded back. “Do you… know why this is…?”

“More than I’d like to, *beep*” Deepsea replied.

Niiue looked around a bit to see two screens on both ends of the elevated portion. Both displayed words too far away for him to read from where he was. Deepsea asked to excuse him, and Niiue pressed his body against the curved wall as he walked past to the left screen. Once Deepsea had passed him, Niiue followed.

There were only two buttons that appeared to be functional next to the screen: an up button and a down button. It looked like there used to be a keyboard as well, but the keys had been smashed to bits. The screen itself displayed a captain’s log, with the date being recorded as Bureaucracy 3, 190X.

_”Today is the final day. We have been given orders to return to Mars and board the enemy’s ships._

_I wish I could have done more. There must have been something I could have done to stop this._

_But my duty as captain of the Ares is done. Perhaps I will become captain of an extrasolar ship instead.”_

As he read the log, everything clicked together in Niiue’s mind. “Dee— _Captain_ Deepsea, when you went to Mars, did you—”

He was cut off by Deepsea passing by him and heading to the other screen. Niiue quickly followed.

The other screen had the same up and down buttons as the last one, but the keyboard was still functional. Like the last one, this screen displayed a captain’s log, but the recorded date was much more recent: Chaos 3, 198X.

_“Trip to Mars… unsuccessful, shall we say. We got there, yes, but what we found upset all of us. Us Starmen, aside from the factory-made units, were once organic. We once had lives outside of… whatever it was we did. How did we not remember this? Why was this kept from us? I don’t understand. These were not the answers I was looking for.”_

That log only confirmed Niiue’s suspicions. From the looks of things, Deepsea was taking it a lot worse than Larice did. Possibly. Larice didn’t say a lot in the first couple of days he was fixed.

Deepsea headed for the doorway on the left end of the elevated portion of the room. As Niiue followed him there, he spotted a birthday card beneath the tattered red cape hanging on the wall. He knelt down and opened it. The handwriting inside read: “Happy birthday bro! Wish you all the best for your new job as captain! – Freshwater.”

From the other end of the room, Niiue heard an annoyed whirr. He looked up to see Deepsea standing in front of the doorway with a stern frown. Niiue put the card down gently and ran over to Deepsea as the latter made his way out of the room.

Deepsea and Niiue exited the depressing room to find themselves on another outer path like the ones on the Celine. This one was much shorter than the previous one, however.

The first Starman they met outside was Diaphus. They could have shot off into the sky with how much they were bouncing on the feet upon seeing their captain.

“Captain! Captain! Hi Captain! *beep*” Diaphus chirped. “It’s so great to see you again today Captain! Where are we going to go next, Captain? Should I write a note? *click*”

Deepsea nervously chuckled a bit before replying, “I’m *click* still giving it some thought.”

The next Starman was also a Ghost of Starman, whose name was Sudis. He had a small spike on the right side of his head, which had been snapped in half in a bygone battle. He stood on the outer corner of the path, arms crossed. He only glared at Deepsea.

There was a ladder at the end of the path, and quite a tall one at that. It took a little while for both Deepsea and Niiue to climb up. When they arrived at the top, they found themselves on the roof of the Magicant ship. It looked similar enough to the roof of the Celine: there were two rooms at each end, but these rooms weren’t as tall as the ones on the real deal. Furthermore, the room at bow of the ship had an assembly line coming out of it, which turned at a point and headed straight off the roof. Despite the length of the assembly line, there were very few Blue Starmen on it.

Standing in front of the assembly line was another Blue Starman from the Celine, Parvilux. He had a dent in his head, but never cared about it. His eye was fixed on the assembly line, and watched the occasional Blue Starman come out of the room where it began travel down the line and drop off to… who knows where.

“Hello Parvilux,” Deepsea greeted. “Are you… *whirr*” he glanced at the assembly line, “…doing alright?”

“Oh! Hi Captain! *click* I’m alright,” Parvilux replied, turning to face the captain. His voice sounded more synthetic than the other Starmen they had talked to.

Out of the corner of his eye, Niiue spotted another Blue Starman standing on the roof of the assembly line room. He hovered up into the air a little to get a better look, and found that this Starman had a few cracks near his eye and on his arm.

Niiue looked down to Deepsea and asked, “Hey Captain Deepsea, do any members of your crew have cracks on their shells?”

“Cracks? *beep* No,” Deepsea replied.

Niiue hummed as he pulled out the photo he found back in he and Giegue’s old Magicant when Ralivil and Buzzy Bol first showed up there. He looked at the Blue Starman in the photo, then up at the Blue Starman standing on the roof of the assembly line room.

_‘No doubt about it, that must be the same guy,’_ Niiue thought to himself. _‘But how in the world did he end up **here?** ’_

Deciding to put no more thought into it, Niiue returned to the ground. Deepsea gave him a puzzled look before heading to the room at the stern of the ship.

Just before Deepsea headed inside the room, Niiue told him, “I’m afraid this is as far as I can go. You’ll have to take on the rest by yourself.”

“What? Why? *beep*” Deepsea asked.

“In there is the end of your Magicant. I can’t help you face it: you have to do that by yourself.”

“But why? Why do I have to do it by myself?”

“You just have to. It’s a Magicant thing,” Niiue replied. “Now, I have to get going. See ya! Good luck!”

With that, Niiue vanished into thin air.

“He was barely doing anything anyway, *click*” Deepsea muttered.

Deepsea entered the room to find himself somewhere completely different. Bright colours swirled below him like waves of the sea, while the sky burned yellow and glimmered with peeks of reds and blues. The sun, a bright blue here, dipped below the horizon. In front of him were red clouds that formed a path to an imposing steel figure standing on a podium. The podium was surrounded by two rings of blue clouds.

Deepsea approached the steel figure, whose shape was vaguely reminiscent of a Starman, but blockier. It even had the emblem! Zeros and ones floated around the figure, which occasionally glitched and lost shape for a brief moment. Its two small, beady black eyes looked down at Deepsea.

“I am your ambition and loyalty to the— BZZT— to the— BZZT. I am your ambition and loyalty to— BZZT— the— BZZT. I am your confusion and doubt. I am your confusion and doubt that has appeared due to— BZZT— technical difficulties,” the figure prattled in a high-pitched monotone voice. “You cannot beat me, because I am programmed— BZZT— You are one who— BZZT— into you— BZZT— forced me into existence.”

The figure charged a PK Starstorm without raising an arm. The pool of PSI simply formed over its head, then stars shot out in all directions. In an attempt to dodge them, Deepsea teleported to the second blue cloud, but not without getting bombarded by some stars first. He fired a PK Beam at the figure’s back, then teleported to the other side of the cloud he was on. The figure fired a PK Beam back at him, then began charging another PK Starstorm. Deepsea began charging his own PK Starstorm. The two Starstorms fired their PSI stars at the same time. Most of the stars crashed into each other, keeping Deepsea safe for the most part. He then fired another PK Beam at the figure.

The battle went on like this for many minutes. It seemed like there would be no end to the fight, but eventually, Deepsea earned his clutch victory. The figure faded from existence, and Deepsea found himself standing on the podium.


	4. Differences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Not yet asleep but lying in bed_   
>  _Looking at the ceiling, looking in your head_   
>  _It's like the ocean, thoughts can run deep_   
>  _Forget it -- hey you, wake up and go to sleep_
> 
> * * *
> 
> Ralivil and Buzzy Bol go to 198X as well. They have a reunion that’s not really a reunion.

The Phase Distorter reappeared on the hilltop with a flash. Ralivil and Buzzy Bol perked up upon seeing the strange machine again.

See, Larice had come back to the future only an hour ago with the news that Niiue wanted the entire Magicant gang to go to the past and find themselves a home there. He figured it was only fair. Larice had stepped up to the job of bringing back the Magicant gang to the past. He took Wil, Mav and Foppiue first; he only managed to take Foppiue along in that first trip because they were so small. Ralivil and Buzzy Bol had to wait, since the Phase Distorter wasn’t big enough to fit all the Magicant gang in at once. The wait for the Phase Distorter wasn’t all that bad, but Ralivil and Buzzy Bol did start to get antsy over who they’d meet in the past.

“You two ready to hop in? *click*” Larice asked.

“We sure are!” Buzzy Bol replied.

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol dashed over to the Phase Distorter, and as they climbed inside, Larice told them, “Watch your heads.”

The inside of the Phase Distorter was a lot smaller than either of them had expected. There were two long leather seats on each side of the tiny interior. Larice barely managed to fit inside. Ralivil lowered his eyestalks to his lower eye’s level just to have a bit of extra wiggle room. Buzzy Bol didn’t have any problems fitting inside, lucky him.

Larice’s hand hovered over a bright red button labelled “GO”. “Close your eyes. It’s for the best, *beep*” he told them.

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol closed their eyes, and Larice did the same as he hit the GO button.

The engine revved up and the black waves burst forth on the outside as the Phase Distorter prepared to take off. Once it did, the journey back in time could only be best described as spinning around really fast while also falling off a cliff as the wind whooshing past blasts your eardrums. This feeling lasted for what felt like a second but also thousands of years before everything just stopped. Ralivil didn’t even want to think about what it would be like if his eyes were open.

While Larice looked no worse for wear (whether it was because he was a Starman or he had experience was up for debate), Ralivil and Buzzy Bol had to take a few moments to regain their composure.

“I’ll tell the others you’ve arrived safely while you calm yourselves,” Larice told them, then stepped outside. He was kind enough to close the door behind him. The outside conversation was barely audible from inside the Phase Distorter.

A couple of minutes passed before Larice poked his head back in and asked, “Are *click* you two feeling better now?”

Ralivil nodded. He then looked down at Buzzy Bol and cocked his eyestalks at him. Buzzy Bol made his UFO rise into the air, then extended its metal arm to give a thumbs up. Larice gave a pleased whirr, then stepped out of the way so the two aliens could climb out.

Foppiue and Mav were sitting next to Dr. Saturn, and Alinivar was sitting against the left wall near the control panel. Niiue was up at the control panel, Colonel Saturn was standing not too far away from Dr. Saturn, and Wil was with Shopkeep Saturn. However, across from Shopkeep Saturn were three aliens Ralivil and Buzzy Bol thought they’d never see again. They knew that they weren’t the same as they were in their home timeline, but… the shock upon seeing them was enough to make them both tear up a little bit.

Both Malik and Elmadan leaned against the wall, while Boson hovered beside the latter.

“Boson?” Buzzy Bol murmured.

“How the hell do you know my name?!” Boson exclaimed.

Niiue looked over his shoulder at Boson and said with a raised eyebrow, “I thought I told you guys that these two are from another timeline.”

Boson stared at Niiue for a second before looking back at Elmadan and Malik. “Did he?” he quietly asked.

The two Mooks thought for a bit before Elmadan replied, “I think he mentioned something about that.”

After having a brief moment of realisation, Boson turned back to Ralivil and Buzzy Bol. “Well, come on over here, dudes! Have a seat! Tell us about yourselves!”

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol made their way over to the trio of aliens, Ralivil more hesitantly. Ralivil sat down beside Malik, while Buzzy Bol hovered nearby.

“So, uh. You two actually from another timeline?” Boson asked.

Ralivil nodded.

Malik scowled. “I still don’t believe it. If these two hooligans are from another timeline, then I want to see proof.”

Buzzy Bol raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t us sitting here right in front of you proof enough?”

“Of course it ain’t!” Malik snapped.

Niiue walked over to Malik, pulled a photo out of his pocket and handed it to the old Mook. “It’s from someone from their timeline. I found it when I first met them.”

Malik studied the photo with narrowed eyes. After a few seconds, he handed it back to Niiue with a sigh. “Can’t believe I lost that bet with Yooghurt, too. There go 100 Bowbucks.”

As Niiue headed back to the ship’s control panel, Boson said, “We never got your names. You wanna say?”

“Oh! I’m Ralivil, and that’s Buzzy Bol,” Ralivil told him.

Boson smiled with his eyes. “Nice to meet’cha!”

From the control panel, Niiue announced, “Our next stop is Saturn!”

The ship’s engine roared to life, and after a jolt of movement, it was on its way to Saturn. Once it had gotten moving, the engine’s noise was little more than a purr.

“Sooo…” Elmadan shuffled in place as he asked, “what was your timeline like?”

“It was nice,” Buzzy Bol said.

“Until… things… started happening,” Ralivil added.

Elmadan frowned. “What kind of things?”

“…Bad… things…”

“I mean, well I figured that, if you’re here.”

“It was… a lot,” Buzzy Bol said. “Already I can tell a few differences. For one, I barely remember the last time I saw you wearing sunglasses, Elmadan.”

Elmadan went stiff. “What? Why wasn’t I wearing them?!”

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol exchanged glances, made some noises of uncertainty and shrugged.

“We’re not really sure. Something to do with Anue’s PSI, we think,” Ralivil replied.

“Wait, hold up, A- _who?”_ Boson asked.

“Anue. They were the same species as Niiue and Googi,” Ralivil told him.

“They wore this hood and didn’t really like talking all that much. That, and they made our you really mad,” Buzzy Bol added.

“Mad enough that you ended up getting, like… possessed.”

A look of shock and horror adorned Boson’s face. “Like, by a GHOST?!”

“A machine, actually,” Buzzy Bol told him.

“If it was by a machine then it’d be _mind control,”_ Malik growled. “Darn kids…”

Ralivil waved his tentacles as if to clear the air. “Whatever it was, it happened, and it was sad.”

A few moments of silence between the group passed by before Boson asked, “…What were we like? You’ve made it clear that me ‘n Dan were in your timeline, what were we like? Were we cool?”

“I’d say so, yeah,” Ralivil replied. “About the same as you are here, but then things…”

Ralivil rotated his hand, and Buzzy Bol finished, “Happened.”

“Like me getting mad at that Anue dog and gettin’ machine-possessed?” Boson asked.

“Yeah,” Buzzy Bol replied.

“What about me? What happened to me?” Elmadan asked, his voice rising.

“Uh…” Ralivil thought for a moment. There was a fair bit to go over, and he didn’t want to scare him too much. Preferably not at all. “Anue did something, then you slept all the time and glowed a bunch, and it turned out you were a reincarnation of this thing called the Apple of Enlightenment.”

“I was the WHAT OF THE WHAT?!”

Alinivar leaned over and looked at the group. “You two had an Apple of Enlightenment?”

“Yeah. It ended up becoming Elmadan,” Ralivil replied.

“Huh.”

Elmadan began to panic. “How did that apple get in there? Did it get _out?!_ Ralivil _please_ tell me it got out.”

Ralivil was a bit unsettled by how close Elmadan was to him right now. “Yeah, it got out… You- well, our you asked me to get it out, actually. It turned into a glowy orb and then it died.”

Elmadan let out a sigh of relief, then leaned back up against the wall again.

“And what about Malik?” Boson asked, extending his UFO’s metal arm to point at the old Mook.

Ralivil inhaled, then held his breath for a couple of moments.

“He built the machine that possessed our Boson,” Buzzy Bol stated.

Malik squinted at Buzzy Bol. “Mind controlled.”

“Mind controlled our Boson.”

Ralivil finally exhaled. “Well, our Malik was… a lot. He built that machine, then destroyed it because it made him depressed, then shot it out into space, then Anue found it but that’s for another time, then he went a bit crazy, or maybe he went a bit crazy and depressed at the same time? Then he climbed onto our ship and hitched a ride to Jupiter, stole a Starman Deluxe’s ship, beat us to Earth, then Mercury, then he told me all of this, and…” Ralivil shrugged, “gave up, basically.”

Malik stared at Ralivil for seven whole seconds before he muttered, “What.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Buzzy Bol told him. “Not the best story around either. Way too sad. But uh, what about you guys? What things have you gotten up to?”

“We went to Jupiter not that long ago to help out the folks in Anolin,” Boson replied. “Before that… there’s this blur where Niiue and the others said some crazy adventure happened, then before that is normal life stuff.”

“There was this stupid human kid that,” Elmadan cleared his throat and made air quotes with his hands as he said, “’helped’ me run Satralia as mayor. That was when I got brainwashed. None of that was fun.”

“I met up with Yooghurt again for the first time in 30 odd years, I guess,” Malik mumbled, crossing his arms.

Ralivil cocked his head. “Who?”

Malik raised an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t have him in your timeline?”

Ralivil shook his head no.

“We did some science stuff together,” Malik said.

“Like…?” Buzzy Bol asked.

Malik scowled at him. “I don’t have to tell ya any more than that.”

The conversation went on as the ship sailed through the stars, headed to Saturn. The blue planet grew ever closer with every passing second...


	5. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _It's not for nothing_   
>  _That I believe nothing really dies_   
>  _Something will always be something_
> 
> * * *
> 
> The Magicant gang go down to the mainlands of Saturn to look at houses.

After a quick stop to Sataene to do some housekeeping at the Applechasers’ base and some shopping in the town, the Applechasers’ ship had landed in a parking area designed specifically for ships on the outskirts of a city on Saturn’s mainlands.

“Are you absolutely sure you guys wanna go down there?” Elmadan asked the Applechasers as they prepared to exit the ship. “As someone who grew up here, trust me; it’s not pretty.”

With a wave of his hand, Niiue assured him, “Don’t worry, Elmadan, we can hold our own.” His ears stood up as an idea came to mind, and he asked, “Actually, do you want to come along? We could really use a guide.”

Elmadan crossed his arms. “That’s what maps are for, aren’t they?” He pointed to Alinivar and asked, “And what about Alinivar? The city’s _packed,_ it’ll probably scare him half to death!”

“Alinivar not _that_ weak!” Colonel Saturn piped up, frowning at the purple Mook. “Alinivar very tough! Went out in public on Earth, boing! Big town! He did well!”

A thankful smile made its way onto Alinivar’s face.

“Besides, *click* if anything does happen, I will be able to take him out of the situation quickly,” Larice added.

“Okay, yeah, fair enough,” Elmadan huffed. “But what about Googi? Is he staying here, or…?”

Niiue and Googi locked gazes for a moment before Niiue looked back at Elmadan and replied, “I think it’d be best for him to stay here.” With a chuckle, he added, “I don’t want him getting lost.”

Colonel Saturn trotted over to the Magicant gang as Googi began to whine his objections with having to stay on the ship.

“You ready to go, zoom?” Colonel Saturn asked the gang.

While Mav simply nodded, Wil replied, “Yup!”

As Wil picked Foppiue up, Ralivil asked, “Wait, what? Where are we going?”

“Niiue said we should look for a place to stay. He suggested here first, since he just so happened to be stopping by here,” Buzzy Bol told him.

“Since when did that get decided?”

“I dunno how close we were to Saturn, but you did fall asleep before that conversation happened.”

“Oh.” Ralivil hadn’t actually realised he fell asleep. Did he do it in the middle of his conversation with Boson, Elmadan and Malik? He hoped not.

The thought was pushed to the side as Ralivil got to his tentacles and followed the rest of the Magicant gang to the ship’s hatch. They awkwardly waited in place as Niiue struggled to convince Googi to stay on the ship. He eventually had to give in to the younger Geeg’s bribe and let him wear his bandana for the time being, then handed him off to Malik.

As Larice headed for the ship’s hatch, he warned Malik, Elmadan and Boson, “If any of you teach Googi any bad words, I swear. *beep*”

Niiue, who had already climbed down the drop ladder, replied, “Come on, Larice. They wouldn’t.”

“But what if…?”

The conversation between the two continued as the rest of the Applechasers, then the Magicant gang climbed down the ladder and outside.

* * *

The mainlands were a lot different than the rings. Neither Ralivil nor Buzzy Bol had ever been to them back in their home timeline, so they didn’t know what to expect. As it turned out, it was a lot like Jupiter, but with blue clouds instead. Almost every building they saw was squished right next to another one, but they didn’t go that far into the city itself before the Magicant gang all decided that such a crowded place wasn’t the right place for them.

The gang had walked back to the ship then right from there. The outskirts of the city weren’t so bad. Peaceful, but not isolated. The clouds were less dense there, and the buildings were a bit more spread out. People were giving them some weird looks for one reason or another. They soon came across a small cul-de-sac of clouds with only two houses that appeared to be occupied. One, on the left side of the clouds, was only a single story, and looked rather small. The other, right at the end of the cul-de-sac, was also one story, but a bit taller, and had some gemblooms growing in a line beside the front door. Beside the gembloom house was a two-story house with a large sign that read “FOR SALE”.

Ralivil pointed at the for-sale house and said, “Niiue said we should look for a house, right? This might be a good one.”

From behind him, Wil piped up, saying, “I think it looks wonderful already.”

Buzzy Bol turned to face the rest of the Magicant gang and asked them, “So do you guys wanna go take a look?”

Wil gave a “yes,” Foppiue gave a “yup,” and Mav simply gave an affirmative grunt. With everyone in agreement, the Magicant gang made their way towards the for-sale house.

The house had a bit of rust gathering on its edges and was a bit more worn down that it appeared from a distance, but it was otherwise quite sturdy. As Wil discovered when he went to go inside, the front door was a bit squeaky. Regardless, he and Mav went inside to take a look around while Ralivil, Buzzy Bol and Foppiue checked out the backyard.

The backyard was a lot bigger than Ralivil and Buzzy Bol would have thought, and the small canopy of purple Bendbirch trees growing next-door and over the fence made for some good shade on warmer days. The picket fence, unfortunately, was very tacky and starting to wear, so that had to be replaced.

Ralivil made it a point to talk about the ugliness of that fence, to which Buzzy Bol replied, “This is all hypothetically, right? You know, we’ve still got to look at other options. We might not even move to this _planet.”_

Ralivil stared at him for a couple of seconds, before looking at the trees as he replied, “I know that.”

The two of them continued looking around the backyard for a minute or so before Foppiue said to someone, “Hey. You live here, or…?”

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol turned to see a very nervous-looking dull yellow Mook just a few feet in front of Foppiue.

“Uh…” The Mook’s dark blue eyes darted around for a few moments before landing back on Foppiue. They squeaked out, “Yeah. I am. R-Right next door, actually.”

“Oh, you live in that house with the gemblooms outside the front?” Buzzy Bol asked.

The Mook quickly nodded.

“It’s a nice place!”

“Ah— …Thank you.”

Ralivil slithered forward a little as he asked the Mook, “So, uh, why are you over here? We haven’t actually moved in yet.” Ralivil was silent for a moment before adding, “Forget I said ‘yet’.”

“Well, um… How do I put this…” The Mook thought in silence before telling Ralivil, Buzzy Bol and Foppiue, “I sensed you guys from my house, and uh, I kinda _know_ you guys aren’t from this timeline.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Ralivil cried. “Bu— HOW?!”

The Mook let out a nervous laugh, then a sigh, then replied, “Let’s just say it runs in the family.”

Foppiue, who had only arched an eyebrow at the reveal, told them, “That’s some family you’ve got.”

The Mook nervously laughed a bit more before replying, “It sure is!”

Buzzy Bol drifted a bit closer towards the Mook and asked, “So what’s your name?”

“Stello,” the Mook replied. “And you guys?”

“I’m Buzzy Bol,” Buzzy Bol replied.

“Foppiue,” Foppiue simply said.

“And I’m Ralivil,” Ralivil said.

A trace of a smile appeared on Stello’s lips. “Well, uh, nice to meet you!”

From above them, Wil called out, “Hello, everyone! Is that your new friend?”

The four in the backyard looked up to see Wil and Mav standing at a window on the top floor of the for-sale house.”

“We just met them,” Foppiue told Wil.

“I would like to meet them, too!” Wil said. He then opened the window, climbed onto the window sill and jumped down into the backyard. Everyone other than Mav and Foppiue winced, but Wil didn’t appear to feel the impact in his legs.

A few seconds later, Mav’s trashcan fell to the clouds with only a soft **poomph** before falling onto its side. Wil walked over to it and set it upright, then gave Mav a thumbs-up. Mav then dove out of the window and into his trashcan, his head making a **bonk** as he landed head-first into it. He then wriggled around and sat inside his trashcan properly, leaning on the rim with his arms dangling over it.

“Are… Are you two alright?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“I’m fine, thank you for asking!” Wil replied.

“Yeah,” Mav added.

“Oh thank the stars,” Buzzy Bol murmured.

Ralivil looked back to Stello and asked, “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to, but uh, how much can you tell we’re not from this timeline?”

Stello hummed in thought for a moment before replying, “Well, I can tell you and Buzzy Bol are from a different timeline, but the other three aren’t from anywhere… physical? It’s weird.”

_‘Huh. That was strangely accurate,’_ Ralivil thought to himself.

Stello cocked their head before asking Ralivil in turn, “But how did all of you end up in this timeline anyhow?”

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol immediately looked away. Meanwhile, Wil simply replied, “We woke up on Earth.”

Stello’s eyes widened.

Buzzy Bol looked back at Stello and told them, “Well, uh… That’s how it is for _them._ For me and Ralivil, though… a lot more things happened before that.”

“Yeah. It wasn’t fun,” Ralivil added.

Stello’s eyestalk lowered a little. “Oh… I’m sorry. I, uh— I mean, I understand. The not-fun things happening to you thing, I mean.”

Silence hung in the air for a few moments before Buzzy Bol said, “So! Stello! I did see those gemblooms outside your house, do you like plants and stuff?”

Stello’s face lit up, and they replied with a smile, “Yes! I do! I’ve studied the plantlife of Saturn my whole life, actually. I have a whole bunch of books on them at home, and I’ve read through them so many times. I’d really like to visit the rings and see the plantlife there myself someday!”

“Oh, really?” Buzzy Bol leaned over to Ralivil and whispered to him, “You think we should ask Niiue about that later?” Ralivil nodded.

“Have any of you been to the rings?” Stello asked. Wil raised his hand, while Mav and Foppiue simply nodded.

“I used to live there!” Ralivil replied.

“Is the ground actually made of dirt and rocks and stuff?”

Ralivil nodded, and Stello gasped. “That must be so different to the ground here! I bet the plants really like it there.”

Ralivil simply nodded once again.

Stello’s excitement morphed into surprise as they blinked. Ralivil and Buzzy Bol, confused by the sudden change in mood, turned around to find Niiue standing just behind the Magicant gang. Ralivil let out a scream. Wil, Mav and Foppiue, however, weren’t surprised by Niiue’s sudden appearance at all.

With a big smile on his face, Wil greeted, “Niiue! How are you?”

Niiue held a bag in his left hand, and had a can of sorts tucked under his right. “I’m just fine, thank you.” He looked over at Stello and asked, “Who’s your new friend?”

As Stello shrunk into themself, Buzzy Bol replied, “This is Stello! They live next door.”

Stello gave a shy wave.

“We were just checking out this house here? It’s for sale,” Ralivil told Niiue, pointing at the house.

Niiue looked up at it and replied, “Looks big enough to hold all five of you easily. Good choice!”

“I didn’t say we’re gonna _buy_ it!”

Wil chipped in with, “I think we should buy this house!”

Mav only nodded in agreement, and Foppiue hummed in agreement as well. Buzzy Bol gave Ralivil a knowing glance. Ralivil sighed, then said, “Yeah, I think this place is nice and I would like to move in here.”

Buzzy Bol added, “Honestly, I’m chill with anywhere.”

Niiue chuckled, then told the Magicant gang, “Well in that case, we’ll start saving up. In the meantime, you can stay at our base in Sataene.”

Wil and Foppiue cheered, and Mav raised his arm into the air as a lazy counterpart.

“Anyway, how much longer do you guys need?” Niiue asked.

“Me, Ralivil and Foppiue haven’t looked inside yet, so I guess we’ll need… about 10 more minutes?” Buzzy Bol told him.

Niiue nodded. “You guys go have a look, then. We’ll head back to the ship once you’re all done.”

Stello cautiously slithered up to Niiue and asked, “Um, I’m just about to go back home, but uh, you said your base is in Sataene? D-Do you happen to know a Mook named Elmadan?”

Niiue smiled as he replied, “I do! Do you know him as well?”

“U-uh, yeah! Could you say hi to him for me?”

“Will do.”

* * *

As it turned out, the Applechasers had returned to the ship long before Niiue and the Magicant gang had. They sat near the control panel talking to one another with multiple sheets of paper spread out in front of them. Alinivar had a guitar resting on his knees as he stared between the papers and the neck of his guitar with a focused frown.

As soon as Niiue entered the ship, Googi darted over and locked him into a tight hug. Niiue simply smiled at the younger Geeg as he put down the things he bought from the mainlands of Saturn.

Elmadan waved to the Magicant gang from his corner of the ship with Malik and Boson. Ralivil waved back, then went to sit with them. Buzzy Bol followed, and Foppiue decided to sit down with them as well.

“How’d it go?” Elmadan asked.

“Pretty well, actually!” Buzzy Bol replied. Elmadan raised his eyebrows.

“We’ve, uh… already decided on a place,” Ralivil added.

Elmadan frowned. “You haven’t even been to any other _cities.”_

“Honestly, it was pretty unanimous,” Buzzy Bol told him. “And sudden.”

“Ya don’t say, dog!” Boson said.

Niiue looked over his shoulder at the little group in the corner, then called out, “Oh, Elmadan!”

Elmadan looked over at him with a quiet hum.

“The Magicant gang and I met a Mook named Stello while we were down there – they say hi!”

Elmadan raised his eyebrows, and after a moment, smiled. He looked back to Ralivil, Buzzy Bol and Foppiue and told them, “You’re gonna have to invite me to your house sometime.”


	6. Epilogue: Watchtower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _In my eyes_   
>  _In my eyes_   
>  _In my eyes_   
> 
> 
> * * *
> 
> If one part of Arix went into Captain Deepsea, what happened to the other part…?

Outside of the boundaries of space and time, on the border of a white void between worlds and existence itself, a lone tower taller than anything anyone could build stood vigilant nearby the worlds with PSI. Within that tower, known as the Zartz Watchtower to its inhabitants, were a dozen cracked Blue Starmen held in within a storage room. Every single Starman had the exact same cracks, and every single one was nothing but a shell of a Starman who was once called Arix.

Lume Miza, guardian of time for the worlds with PSI and leader of the Zartz Timekeepers, hovered just inches above the floor of this storage room with two Zartz Officers on either side of him. They had been watching the shells in silence for quite some time now, and they were completely baffled. One reason was that they had no idea what to do with them: they had simply been thrown out of their respective timelines by Inpue, with no regard for any consequences it may have for the void between worlds. The second reason was that the shells themselves were the least socially capable things they had ever seen in all of their long lives.

The Zartz Officer to the left of Lume Miza looked up at him and asked, “Lume Miza, sir, have you come up with any ideas for what to do with these shells yet?”

“I’m afraid not,” Lume Miza replied.

The Zartz Officer to the right of Lume Miza sighed, despite lacking the mouth to do so. “It was a good thing you destroyed those timelines, sir. These shells are really annoying, I’d hate to have to put up with any more of them.”

Lume Miza’s three legs twitched. He looked at the officer on the right of him and told them, “Now, do not forget why I destroyed them. That RPG-maker was a hazard to this dimension’s very existence.”

The Zartz Officer on his left sunk slightly as they fiddled with their noodle hands. Lume Miza noticed, and looked over toward them as he asked, “Do you have something to say?”

Though there was no hostility in his voice, the question was enough to make the officer shiver. “No, sir.”

All three Zartz Timekeepers returned to watching the Arix shells bumble about their storage room and have some very short, disjointed conversations with one another. The minutes dragged on before Lume Miza straightened his back – a telltale sign he had come up with an idea.

“Have you come up with an idea, sir?” the Zartz Officer on his right asked.

“Yes. Have them all fixed up, then send them into other timelines. Their new souls will find their way into them. They’ll live on, in a way, through other Starmen.”

The Zartz Officer to his right saluted, “Yes, sir! We’ll have them delivered to the workshop right away!”

Lume Miza slowly nodded, then teleported away in a flash of white light. That left the two Zartz Officers to deliver dozens of cracked Blue Starman shells to the workshop several stories below them.

The more enthusiastic of the two officers motioned for the other to follow. “Come on! These shells aren’t going to move themselves!”

The other Zartz Officer nodded. As they immobilized a shell with their PSI, their mind drifted back to what Lume Miza had said earlier: “Now, do not forget why I destroyed them. That RPG-maker was a hazard to this dimension’s very existence.”

If it was just the RPG-maker, then would it not have been easier to only destroy the machines? Yes, the machine was dangerous, but was it worth ending countless lives to stop it? Knowing the nature of timelines, there had to be at least one where everything turned out alright. Knowing that, could something have been done differently?

“Hey!” the officer’s cohort snapped. “Get back to reality, you’re slowing this process down!”

“Oh! My apologies.”

For now, they would just have to get the Arix shells to the workshop and hope that once they were fixed up and sent away, it would be enough to compensate.


End file.
